The Work

We continue our study of the gospel of Mark. Last week we considered Jesus’ temptation. This is where, He, in the wilderness alone, without any human support or assistance, dueled with the devil and won. Matthew and Luke record three specific temptation Jesus faced. Each time He stood strong and subdued the devil by wielding the Word of God.

In so doing, Jesus demonstrated that He is the King over Satan and his realm. Jesus has already defeated Satan. His time is over. We can think of it like this, like D-Day in World War Two, the victory is certain, it is just a matter of time until the enemy is fully routed.

What we consider today and in the following weeks is Jesus’ advancement of the Kingdom of God and its victory over the kingdom of darkness.

The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God has always existed, is in existence, and will continue to exist. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, as well as a physical kingdom. The battle though, is spiritual, not physical.

Jesus came after John was put in prison. So, in the space between verse 13 and verse 14 several months have passed. John’s ministry lasted about a year, with Jesus’ baptism being in the middle of it. The events recorded in verse 14 happened after Jesus had been ministering in Judea, for about six months after his baptism. Thus there was a six-month overlap of John’s ministry and Jesus’ ministry. John said that he came to prepare the way for Jesus, and that Jesus must increase and he must decrease. And that’s precisely what happened. People were drawn away from John to Jesus, to hear Him preach and teach. And with finality, John’s decrease came with his imprisonment and eventually, his death.

In our passage, Jesus wraps up his ministry in Judea (as recorded in John’s gospel) and He comes to Galilee. Galilee is the northern kingdom of Israel, it is the land of the Gentiles. It is a land that, as you read through Joshua and Judges, you see that the Israelites never fully conquered. The people groups who were living in the land remained after the conquest, and they were a strongly negative influence on Israel, encouraging them to worship false gods, to turn away from the One True God.

Jesus expands His kingdom, by bringing the light into the darkness. The darkness of sin cannot stand against the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is present wherever Jesus is. When Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand, He is telling the people who are hearing Him, “The King of kings, the true King of Israel is standing before you.”

But most people don’t get it. They don’t see Him as a king. Even His own mother and brothers didn’t see it. They didn’t understand Him or His kingdom. For Jesus’ kingdom isn’t an earthly kingdom. It is Spiritual. It can be understood in the mind and in the heart, but it depends on the Holy Spirit to make it real in a person.

Some of the people who heard Jesus, were moved by the Spirit to receive Him. They saw Him and the turned away from the darkness into the light. But many didn’t want to come out of the darkness, for they loved the darkness more than the light. They were the ones who crucified Him. They belonged to the Devil, and his kingdom, the kingdom of darkness.

The Kingdom of Darkness

When we think of the kingdom of darkness, we must not have in our minds that it is an equal, opposite, opposing kingdom fighting and winning against the kingdom of heaven. It is not like that at all. God, for his own purposes, allows the kingdom of darkness to move, to grow, to fade, to sometimes have sway over people, and at other times to be utterly eradicated.

We see this clearly in the life of Job. Verse 1 tells us he was blameless and upright, one who feared God and shunned evil. He regularly offered sacrifices to God, for himself and for his family. Unbeknownst to Job, at that time there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. Notice it is the Lord who brings Job to Satan’s attention. The Lord permits Satan to afflict Job. He allows Satan to take away his family, his wealth, his health. God gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

From this passage, we see that the kingdom of darkness is totally at the mercy of God, and always has been.

We see this also in the pattern of Israel, very clearly in the Kings, but also in Judges. When we studied Samson, we saw the cycle: people fall into sin and idolatry, God permits Israel to be enslaved by her enemies, Israel cries out to the Lord, God raises up a judge, Israel is delivered and serves the Lord until the judge dies.

We see this same pattern of sin in our own lives as well. We fall into sin, even idolatry—by putting our own desires before the Lord. Then, God allows us to wallow in our sin for a time, until the weight of the Holy Spirit awakens us to our sin, we cry out to the Lord, and He reminds us of what Jesus Christ has done. We then turn to God and serve Him faithfully, until the time we fall into temptation again.

God is faithful, especially when we are not! He remained faithful to Israel. He remained faithful to Job, and through his experiences, Job gained a greater understanding of who God is, and the resolute confidence that he would one day see God, his Redeemer, with his very own eyes. That, knowing that, is the greatest treasure of all. There is nothing on this earth greater than seeking and knowing God!

And because Jesus is the King, He rules over this creation. He is steadily increasing His kingdom, one person at a time. Having defeated Satan, and with authority!, Jesus turns to exercise His authority over sin—over the kingdom of darkness. He came preaching the gospel—the good news of the kingdom of God. The good news is that you can escape the kingdom of darkness and come into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God! Transferring your allegiance involves two steps, it requires you to repent and believe.

Repent

Repentance is the first step in following Jesus Christ, in accepting Jesus as your King and Saviour. This spelled out as part of Jesus’ work in his earthly ministry, as appears in our passage Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Repentance is for everyone, not just new believers. In fact, as long as we are on this side of Christ’s return, we will sin against God and others. This requires repentance: Luke 13:3 “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish”; Acts 17:30 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent”; 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”. Therefore, we should be quick to confess our sin, and repent, that is turn away from it, in obedience.

Peter's first message after Pentecost was a call to repent Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

Repentance means turning away from wrong (evil, or sin) and being sorry, regretting that we have done wrong. There are three elements in repentance:

1. Intellectual: using the mind, we change our understanding; recognising that sin involves personal guilt, defilement, and helplessness. This is becoming “conscious of sin” Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin”. We think about what we’ve done, then we think about how we can exercise the fruit of the Spirit—self control in turning from sin and toward righteousness, as we walk in step with the Spirit, away from sin and into obedience.

2. Emotional: we experience a change of feeling, a genuine sorrow for our sins before God, because He is holy and just and wants us to do right. Psalm 51 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight.

3. Volitional: here we change our will and determination, we are committed to doing what is right and to turn away from wrongdoing (Romans 7:18-22 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man”.

Repentance includes confessing all sins to God Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy”; 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Believe

The second step is belief. What we believe matters. How we exercise our belief, our faith matters. We believe that we are forgiven in Christ. We believe that He has conquered Satan and sin. He has conquered all the sin that plagues you, and me. Belief and repentance work together. Without faith or belief, there is no true repentance; without repentance, there is no true faith.

Heidelberg Catechism, question 21 asks:

21. Q. What is true faith?

A.True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word; it is also a wholehearted trust (conviction), which the Holy Spirit works in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These gifts are purely of grace, only because of Christ’s merit.

The same three elements we noted with regard to repentance are present in belief:

Intellectual: Knowledge of what God's Word says. Knowledge of sin, redemption by Christ’s blood, salvation, and sanctification, the process of becoming more like Christ in obedience and faith.

Volitional, or will: Conviction that faith is real, it is true, it is rational, it is completely reasonable.

Emotional: There is a peacefulness that comes from knowing that we are right with God. It is a tangible experience that is deeper than happiness, and it comes with a restfulness that is found in Christ’s surpassing peace.

The result of belief is a confident knowledge of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; accepting God’s Word because He is trustworthy; and submitting to Christ by trusting in His salvation and sanctification through the Holy Spirit.

Faith is believing that Jesus has conquered sin. He has set us free from bondage and slavery to sin. It is believing that in Christ, we no longer have to be the way we’ve always been, but we can be, we can live as new creations in Christ, turning from sin, and turning toward righteousness and obedience. Or as Hebrews 11:1 puts it: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

We must place our faith in Jesus to receive forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”, John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”.

We put our trust, not in ourselves, but rather in the power of Christ’s death and resurrection as the true King of kings: 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain”; Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”).

By faith we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior (John 1:12” But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”; Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”; Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”.

29. Q. Why is the Son of God called “Jesus,” meaning “savior”?

A. Because he saves us from our sins; and because salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else.

34. Q. Why do you call him “our Lord”?

A.Because—not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood—He has delivered and purchased us body and soul from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, to be His very own.

Brothers and sisters in Christ. Last week, we witnessed the coronation of Jesus. In His baptism, he is declared King, He has authority over Satan and has defeated him. Today, we see that Jesus is King of us, He has authority over sin over your sin, over my sin. You are no longer trapped in it. Christ has set you free. You are free! Free to truly live your life to the fullest, in obedience to Christ. For it is in obedience that we find true joy! Amen.